ACCESS Denied (to the courtroom)

Rep. Ken Calvert (R., CA) has introduced the ACCESS Act, designed to protect small businesses from getting sued because of a lack of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The bill imposes a notice and compliance period for businesses before a private civil suit can be filed. Partial press release below. 

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Rep. Calvert Introduces the ACCESS Act 
Legislation Designed to Help Small Businesses Comply with ADA Law 

Washington, D. C., Wednesday, March 06, 2013 -

Today, Representative Ken Calvert (R-Corona) introduced the ACCESS Act, H.R. 994, legislation designed to help small businesses comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

"The Americans with Disabilities Act was created to protect the rights and access of disabled Americans, it was not created to penalize our small businesses," said Rep. Calvert.  "In recent years we have seen a disturbing trend of frivolous lawsuits being filed against small businesses with the goal of obtaining financial settlements.  Our goal should be improving access for disabled Americans to go about their day, not improving access for trial lawyers to the pockets of our small business owners."

The ACCESS (ADA Compliance for Customer Entry to Stores and Services) Act would alleviate the financial burden small businesses are facing, while still fulfilling the purpose of the ADA.  Any person aggrieved by a violation of the ADA would provide the owner or operator with a written notice of the violation, specific enough to allow such owner or operator to identify the barrier to their access.  Within 60 days the owner or operator would be required to provide the aggrieved person with a description outlining improvements that would be made to address the barrier.  The owner or operator would then have 120 days to remove the infraction.  The failure to meet any of these conditions would allow the suit to go forward. ...